Chen Mu pitied himself for having encountered such a wretched System. In just under a minute, Chen Mu had transformed from a wonderful, respectable elder brother into a shameless fellow.
However, Chen Mu deserved it for not believing the System. He should have just kept his head down obediently when he was told that he could not mention the System's existence. Nevertheless, he had chosen to be cheeky.
'Since the System is asking me to complete one game, then so be it,' thought Chen Mu. He turned on the game and started looking around. After his last experience, Chen Mu was quite familiar with the game interface. He simply asked, "There seem to be a few game modes here. Which one should I play?"
"The Host is only level-1, a Co-op vs. AI match should suffice. However, please note that you should learn the basics of the game in the Co-op vs. AI game mode," the System advised Chen Mu.
"Vs. AI means competing against bots. Alright, then." Chen Mu clicked on the Co-op vs. AI game mode only to realize that he could only choose from a small selection of champions.
"Why do I only have these? It wasn't like this the last time I played, was it?" asked Chen Mu.
"You're required to purchase champions. For now, the Host can only use the three permanent champions that have been given to him for free along with the ten champions from the weekly free rotation," the System stated.
Chen Mu saw a blue thumbnail and after a moment's thought, he said in his mind, 'Isn't this the champion the little fellow used when I fought against him just now? I'll pick him.'
Chen Mu chose Ryze and clicked 'Lock In'.
"Aren't you going to tell me how to use this champion?" asked Chen Mu. He had only ever used Ashe and it was in the tutorial earlier. As for Ryze, Chen Mu had managed to see the fellow's skills and basic attack animation for a short amount of time before his opponent got crushed by his experience trial card.
Therefore, in Chen Mu's head, the champion seemed weak. However, after thinking about it, it did not make sense. If the champion was weak, why had Chen Mu's opponent picked Ryze in their 1v1 match? Thus, Chen Mu decided that the champion was not weak—it was his experience trial card that was overpowered.
"Your current version of your game is S2 sir. Currently, Ryze is still a champion suitable for beginners with his three direction-targeted abilities. The champion will be reworked twice before S8. It will become a strong champion that has to be mastered by all mid laners. The Host will have to learn and understand such things in detail as a regular visitor to the professional arena," the System said.
"What are S2 and S8? Why don't I understand any of it?" asked Chen Mu.
"In the previous Host's dimension, the game was updated in its eighth year. That was when I left. 'S' stands for which year the game is in. In your dimension, the population is much greater, reaching tens of billions of people. The economic development here is a lot better than the previous host's dimension. Therefore, the number of players competing against each other is thrice the other dimension's amount. With the game increasing rapidly in popularity, your path to win the championship will be much harder than the previous Host's. So, please work hard, sir," said the System.
"We'll talk about that later. How am I going to play if you're not going teaching me?" Chen Mu asked.
"The Host should learn about the game's fundamentals on their own via the abilities description section. The System only provides training and will not interfere directly with the game's operation," explained the System.
"Then, what's the point of having you around if I have to do it myself!?" Chen Mu was rendered speechless. Shifting his mouse, Chen Mu clicked on each component to further learn about them.
The four keys, QWER, were hotkeys for his four abilities.
After scanning through all of them, Chen Mu managed to grasp a general understanding of the interface. Ryze was a Mage champion. Borrowing the experience he had gained from playing Dungeon Fighter Online and Warcraft a few years ago, Chen Mu could not really call himself an illiterate gamer.
His analysis went like this—the champion should be a character that excelled in chaining his abilities similar to some of the Mages in Warcraft. At first glance, looking at Ryze's attacks, he did not seem like one's typical damage-dealer.
Nevertheless, the mana cost of his abilities seemed rather high. Hence, did it not mean that Chen Mu should start with mana items?
Chen Mu purchased a Sapphire Crystal as recommended by the interface. He recalled the brat that fought him 1v1 had done the same.
Since Chen Mu had only ever been to the mid lane before, he headed down the lane right away. On the other hand, two champions went to the top lane, while another two champions went to the bot lane.
While he was laning against a bot, Chen Mu went ahead and cast Q. Then, he chased after the bot, but the minions ended up aggroing him and attacking his champion.
"Why is Ryze so weak? I think that Riven is much stronger. She killed Ryze at level-1. This Ryze can't kill a champion even after landing so many attacks," Chen Mu complained.
However, Annie Bot did not retaliate and instead retreated after having suffered Chen Mu's attacks. She had lost a lot of health.
Hence, the AI-controlled Annie retreated after a brief pause. Chen Mu tower-dived to chase after her, and he was blasted by the tower twice. As a result Annie Bot took first blood and Chen Mu's screen turned black and white.
Chen Mu sat frozen on the spot for around three seconds before he yelled, "System, come out here and face me! What League prodigy?! I can't even defeat a bot! Forget it, I'm going back to studying."
"Don't fret, sir. This isn't a solo game. You haven't lost just because you've died. The game only ends once a Nexus is destroyed. After you've completed your mission, the System will provide in-sleep training when the Host is asleep, allowing the Host to pick up all the basic game fundaments," said the System.
Then, Chen Mu saw that Ryze had respawned at the Fountain. After his death, Chen Mu was able to absorb some experience and get back into the game. This time, Chen Mu did not dive under the tower. Instead, he waited for Annie to fight the creeps before engaging on her.
Even for a batch of newbies, it was hard to lose a simple game of Co-op vs. AI. Therefore, before Chen Mu could realize, he and his teammates had won against the bots.
Having witnessed an entire match that showcased everyone else's roles, Chen Mu's understanding of the game improved—it was a game where one killed their enemies, purchased items, leveled up, obtained greater combat strength, and destroyed their enemies' Nexus. It was basically an evolution of real-time strategy games whereby minions spawned on time to fight each other, and players were required to control only one champion to influence the outcome of the game. That was the gist of the game.
His previous game was a 1v1 match, a game mode that pitched an individual against another; where victory was obtained once either player killed their opponent once. Chen Mu had misunderstood the win condition of the game and thought he lost the moment he died.
After winning the match, Chen Mu received a system notification.
[Received one hundred points! Current accumulated points: four hundred points]
After that, Chen Mu realized he could access some sort of
After that, Chen Mu thought that he did not have any pending missions left. So, he hurriedly turned off the computer, took out past year test questions, and started to answer them.
In Chen Mu's eyes, immersing himself in test questions was akin to playing a game. Each question that he managed to solve was equal to defeating a monster. On the other hand, solving a difficult question was like killing a boss. It was due to his unique method of studying that he was able to study without stress and maybe even become addicted to it.
Chen Mu studied until the stroke of midnight before climbing into bed.
[The Host should sleep as soon as possible. Time allocated for sleep is necessary to build up the Host's knowledge of basic game fundamentals.]
"Alright, alright, I'm going to sleep now." Chen Mu no longer dared to go against the System since he thought it was rather terrifying. At the same time, Chen Mu wanted to achieve his dreams of helping his father recover. Soon enough, Chen Mu entered dreamland.